Cern steps out as Maggie does and puts himself a step ahead of her. He pulls out a rams horn and blows on it. The horn emits a dull raspy call but garners the attention of the raging elemental. In that moment it responds with a parallel mournful sound. That is when Maggie is able to cast her spells <see below for results.>

Robert makes the dash for the brook and as he enters the shadow of a bush he catches the glimpse of himself disappearing into the shadows. His legs just seem to vanish in the dark. Maybe it was a trick of the mind, he would continue in his rush to the ice. His body is shielded from sight of the Elemental for a moment by the shadow of a bush and he is now on the side of the brook, <see below for what happens.>

Crouched by the brook in the dark shadows he would see that the arms in front of him did not exist although he knew they were there <perhaps holding a rock.> If he tried to look at his feet they would be simply invisible as well. In the shadows he would feel a sense of protection that was instinctive. He had merged with them, hid within them. It was like being invisible although he knew that he was still tangibly there and present but just unseen for as long as he willed it to be so within the dark of a deep shadow.

The elemental howled in front of Maggie and Cern, it ripped off a piece of metal siding and hurled it. The siding caught Cern in the chest and he flew back onto the ground. The little glowing pixies shot out from the culvert where they had remained hidden. Their tiny bodies fighting against the winds until they were at Cerns side on the ground. A pool of blood began to grow beside him.

The storm's raging winds slowed and the rumble stopped. It was not much more then a wispy bit of leaves and dirt swirling about. It turned to the brook where Robert had gone and remained with fixed gaze on the shorelines shadows.

@Robert - Roll 1-1001-60 You'll find a small whirlpool of water frozen in the ice. It has eyes and some sort of form too, it's eyes are staring up at you unblinking. You know that somehow the two elementals must be related.61-100 You feel compelled by instinct to shatter the ice with a rock and as you do it a little eddie of water drifts down stream, it's features hold a similarity to the raging winds behind you.

@Maggie - Roll 1-100, 1-50 You'll partially disrupt the vortex and also hurl stuff at it which it will simply hurl back at you with far more velocity then what was sent at it.51-100 You'll feel the force of will flash out at the vortex like solid wall but it will get caught up by the elemental and be hurdled back at you with equal force - enough to knock you to the ground.

Ducking into the shadow of the bush, Robert shook his head from the sudden vision of himself running. Staying the safety of the shadow, Robert took a long breath, before he looking at the frozen water. Confused when he saw what could only be described as eyes in the ice, he rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn’t seeing things. Looking at his hand, or where his hand was supposed to be, he flexed his fingers feeling them move. Looking at his feet, he knew he would have to worry about why he couldn’t see himself later. Maggie and Cern were in to much danger for him to take long.

Leaning closer to get a better look at the thing in the water, he was shocked to see what could have only been another Elemental. “That’s why…” he said to himself, not seeing what was happening with Maggie and Cern. Hitting the ice with his fist, he groaned and shook his hand from the pain from the impact. Trying to think of some way to get the thing out of the ice, he looked around before picking up a rock. Taking several deep breaths as he held the rock, he hit the ice a couple times lightly before hitting it harder. "Please let this work..." he said as he hit the ice a second time.

Maggie FossLocation: The barrensTag: Robert, CernMaggie's rage flashes out at the elemental when she sees Cern toppled by the material-- in a panic, she lashes out with her mind, only to feel its fury push back and, quite literally, knock the wind from her. She cries out, her voice barely audible over the roar of the tornadoes in this beast's core, as she is thrown from her feet and lands, hard, on the ground.

She then notices the blood-- something breaks deep in her soul and despair drowns the passion and the fear in her, spilling out in a cry of "No!" as she throws herself toward the fallen satyr, feeling like a puppet with mangled strings as she fights the reeling disorientation and the searing pain of the injury to throw herself toward where Cern lays bleeding. She tries to reach him, to help him move-- to get him out of harm's way with her, if she can.

Robert's chopping at the ice with stone caused it to begin to break up but drew the attention of the elemental. It's now relative calm winds churning up dry grass and leaves as it approached. The rustling of the bush behind Robert giving it's presence away. It saw him, eyes fixed and watching.

The ice broke as Robert's last chop came down. The current took the ice flows away and the little frozen eddie of water appeared to swirl off out into the brook. It's eyes closed and it vanished as if always part of the waters.

Back on the grounds where Cern and Maggie were she had tried to help him move. Cern was heavy. His six foot tall frame all lean heavy muscle and thick hind quarters being pure solid muscle as well. He reached over and took Maggie's hand thrusting his horn into it. Cern tried to speak but the metal had cut him deep across the chest and his words came out with a gurgle of sound. Little dimmed pixies hummed with a quite wailing as they cried into his body. They clung to him, tiny little hands trying to lift him. Maggie could feel the heartache of the pixies. It would echo inside of her.

One little pixie glowed brightly and tried to push the horn up further into Maggie's hand. She was trying to say something. If she put her head down to hear the tiny voice, or really tried to listen it would become clear to her. "Blow the horn."

Maggie FossLocation: The barrensTag: Robert, CernTears stinging her eyes, Maggie touches around Cern's wounds as despair and pain seep in... she had called him to this, she knew in her heart it was true. She had caused this to Cern, who had suffered this wound for her. Her breaths sobs, she hears the sprites' cries and listens, lifting the horn that they gesture to her and twisting its awkward shape in her long-fingered hands.

It requires determination-- she has to steel herself against the pain and the terror that rage in her like smoldering cinders, burning and consuming her inside. She takes up Cern's horn and hesitates, just for a moment, before placing it to her mouth and blowing. She knows how to produce sound from a horn, somehow... something she knows deep in her heard, whether from memory or from instinct. Her lips buzz into the aperture and she tries to let forth a powerful blast from the curved instrument, her lungs filling and releasing with a heave of her thin shoulders and breast.

Robert LongLocation:The BarrensTag:Maggie, Cern, ElementalAs he worked on chipping away the ice, Robert felt the Elemental come up behind him. Trying not to think about the giant human tornado, he continued to work on the ice. Just as the ice started to break he became aware of the soft breeze blowing around him instead of the tornado force gale that was blowing around when they first saw him. Watching as the ice finally broke apart, he gasped when he saw the eyes close and the eddie of water swirl away. Slowly standing up, he watched as the eyes became part of the water. Turning around to look up at the Elemental, he watched it as he waited to see what it would do.

With the Elemental now quiet, Robert heard the blast from the Satyr’s horn. Slowly turning to look in the direction of the sound, Robert felt his heart jump to his throat. Seeing the Satyr on the ground and Maggie blowing in his horn, he didn’t think twice as he ran to them. Sliding to a stop, he fell to his knees as he looked at the deep wound across Cern’s chest. “Oh Shit…” he gasped as he pulled his t-shirt off. Placing it on the bloody wound, “Maggie… Are you ok,” he asked trying to stop the blood.

Looking to the Elemental, “I tried to help you… Now please find some help for him…”

Robert ran over to help and tried to stop the bleeding but Cern had fully lost consciousness by the time he got there. A million little skittering things started to crawl around in the shadows and encroached. The darkness itself grew more oppressive with a palpable weight and the large elemental moved towards the people on the ground. The little pixies all fly to Maggie and hid in corners of her clothing and among her hair, bracing themselves for what was coming.

With darkness all around and closing down the elemental suddenly whipped like a coiled snake and overtook them on the ground before they had time to react. A slight warm spring breeze blew across their cheeks and in a heartbeat they were all inside the eye of the vortex. Here it was calm, the darkness felt less oppressive. Outside it though the darkness itself encased the area blotting out all light. Only the glow of the pixies gave them light to see one another guy. Insectoid like faces as large as a human's head could be seen in the reflection of the glow. Long pointy legs the size swords tried to reach in to grab at the group on the ground. As the legs reached in the winds of the storm began to spin violently with the force of a tornado. Still the inside remained calm. The fierce winds ripped the legs from the large insects. The wind spun faster and faster, it howled it's rage and pain.

Cern stirred, his eyes fluttering open and looked about. He did not speak but stared up at Maggie. Then his form began to dissipate. Maggie would feel it pass from existence and into her own being. No longer Cern the Satyr but instead as a symbol of strength and courage within her own will. It became something she could call forth as her own and give it the form of the Satyr. The little voices of the pixies now growing stronger in her own mind as well. They were sad now but somehow glad for the passing. One whispered in her ear, "Do not cry, his pain has passed and he has returned to our realm. What you saw was just an aspect of his form given shape but now it's yours. His gift to you. You should continue to blow the horn and help will come, you are the summoner and only you have the strength inside you to summon the Fae to your aid."

The little pixies at that moment all let go of Maggie and flew up then out into the winds. Their tiny little bodies glowing as bright as light bulbs as they swirled about in the winds at hundreds of miles per hour creating a blinding blue of dazzling lights. The vortex of light so bright that the darkness was repelled by it and drew back, no longer trying to reach within the winds.

@Robert - Roll 1-100.1-75 And you instinctively understand that the Elemental vortex doesn't want to be here. You can sense and feel it's dislike for the dark but more importantly you can also sense that it is trapped here and unable to leave. It wails and howls are that of a trapped animal. It possess not human like intelligence but it more like that of an animal.

76-99 The Elemental's emotional sense of being trapped, it's panic, it's pain flood into you deeply as your mind awakens to the connection with it. It's pain becomes your own almost completely overtaking you emotionally.

100 And you will absorb it's aspect into you immediately to take completely control over it.

@Maggie - Roll 1-100.1-70 You blow the horn with the feeling like you are summoning help. As if your will is reaching out and pulling help to you. You can feel the little minds of the pixies near you, can feel their tiny little fighting spirits glowing for all they are worth to push back and hold back the dark for you. You just know that help will come soon.

71-90 You blow the horn with the feeling like you are summoning help. As if your will is reaching out and pulling help to you. An understanding of where are you will take hold of you. An understanding of how to move within these lands and what you need to accomplish those goals. <to be explained to you via PM's and of course partially by reading the Godmother's explanation of things in the GM posts in the other thread.)

91-100 As you blow the horn and feel help coming it takes a form in your mind. The form of an ethereal woman with long white hair and she is accompanied by others that you were with earlier. They are close at hand you only need to hold on a short while longer.

Trying everything he could to get the bleeding to stop, Robert continues to move the bloody shirt around the Satyr’s chest. “Cern… I shouldn’t have had you two to try to distract it… I’m sorry. It was too dangerous…” he said softly, putting pressure on the terrorible wound.

Feeling the darkness closing in, he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. Seeing the elemental moving closer, he couldn’t help but wonder what was going to happen next. Looking around the ground to find something to fight with, he gasped when the elemental spring. As the vortex wrapped around them, Robert moved to cover Cern’s body to protect him. When he felt the light breeze, Robert looked around, his eyes wide when he realized that they were in the eye of the vortex, “What the hell…”

Seeing the insect like creatures being torn apart, a sudden pain raged through Robert. Screaming out in pain, he fell back from Cern, landing on his back beside the Satyr. Forcing the pain down, his mind filled with the thoughts from the elemental. Pain, fear, rage, panic… ran through him as he forced it down. Rolling over onto his hands and knees, he panted as he tried to force his mind to clear, “No… I am not trapped…” he growled through clinched teeth. Seeing Cern’s body dissolve, he was surprised when a glowing light started to spread. Looking to the wind, he could see the spinning blue lights of the pixies.

Maggie FossLocation: The barrens, in the whirlwindTag: RobertMaggie's hands tremble on the horn as she lowers it from her lips, the mournful peal of the horn having been silenced by the storm already. There in the chamber at the storm's eye, tears won't quite break through, and she kneels and sits back with Cern's head and shoulder resting on the soot-stained thighs of her jeans.

As he fades, Maggie's fair eyes flicker with understanding as her mind is awash with memories...understandings not her own, but belonging to her somehow. She doesn't breathe, but when the understanding settles in and she snaps back to awareness of her surroundings, Cern is gone, nothing but the dust of his passing left behind.

Robert's cry of pain jars Mags from the stupor, and she immediately reaches for him. For just a moment, her pale skin and eyes are luminous with the remnant of fae's light. "It's alright," she murmurs, her hands cool and comforting on his face. "It's alright, I understand it now... just hold on, help is on the way."

The little lights swirling within the vortex began to fade and one by one they crashed within the calm air. Their tiny little bodies landing on the ground. If anyone were to move up really close they would see tiny broken wings, little scratches, and in some cases they appeared unconscious. Until one by one all of the lights went out.

The darkness took a deep breath and then crashed down against the wall of the vortex. It's spinning funnel of wind collapsing then reforming. The rumbling sound of it growing deeper and less consistent. The winds began to grow black with the bits and pieces of crushed insectoid demons.

@Robert - Roll 1-100

1-50 You feel the Elemental's pain and sense that you can give it strength by willing it to continue on. By doing this you will feel the presence of it fade and your mind taking full control of the winds. There is no way to break free of here but you can take over and let the winds continue to rage to protect you from the darkness outside.

51-90 All of the above plus you will see through it's eyes, feel it as if you were the elemental. You gain absolute control over it. Unfortunately that also means from this elevated vantage point you can see into the shadows and into the darkness. Not far from here on top of the old abandoned rail cars stands what looks like a cloaked human. At his feet are twisted malformed savage looking black animal like things. They are beginning to stalk their way through the thousands insectoid things all heading in your direction. Feel free to use the Elemental's vortex to occasionally reach out and carve a wide swatch of destruction through the darkness.

91-100 All of the above + Being able to see through the Elementals eyes you can see the glow of light down by the brooks edge where you were. It's a faint glow within the water. Feel free to use the Elemental's vortex to occasionally reach out and carve a wide swatch of destruction through the darkness.

@Maggie Roll 1-100

1-75 You can hear one tiny voice, really more like images in your head. It's the little pixie that first hugged your hair. She has flown off. She went up and out the top of the vortex then off. The little pixie sees a woman in a long flowing blue dress and silken white hair. She is coming this way and her light shines like the blinding sun. There is a happiness to the pixie as she darts downwards to greet the woman.

76-90 The above but as the pixie flies down she is struck by something in the air. The images go dark and her little pixie voice is gone from your mind.

Feeling the pain of the elemental, Robert screamed again before realizing that he might be able to help. Pulling the pain to himself, he forced his own strength out to it. Feeling the wind grow stronger from the use of his strength, he growled as he fought to help the elemental. “They will… No… Not… Gettt… Through…” he said through clinched teeth.

Breathing deeply, he slowly sat up, his eyes closed as he felt the wind blowing around them. Opening his eyes, he didn’t notice at first that the pixies had fallen from the vortex. Seeing the legs and bodies of the insect being torn apart as they tried to push through the vortex, Robert slowly stood up, his mind filled with rage for what they bugs had done. His face appeared calm, the pain gone as he looked out into the darkness. Smiling every time an insect was torn to pieces, the wind speeds up more as more insects try to get to them.

Maggie FossLocation: The barrens, in the whirlwindTag: Robert"Oh God, they're dying..." Maggie feels utterly helpless as she loses the fae spirits one by one, each winking into darkness. She can feel Robert fighting within the elemental, or sharing its experience some way, and she wraps one arm over his shoulders and lowers her face beside his, her red hair spilling over one of his shoulders.

"Just a little longer... she's almost here," Mags murmurs, trying to focus her will with his, to push back the dark from within and to hold him up. She doesn't understand how Cern's becoming part of her works, or how to share any of that with Robert, but she tries. "Hold on. Just hold on." Every glimmer fading, she focuses her own will, her own light, to find Robert's and to push back the dark beyond.

Posting Order:*Give the other three a chance to post before you(Maggie & Robert) post a greeting to them as they arrive.

Notes about meeting them:

@Robert - You will feel the Elemental vortex collapsing and it's essence fail (it becomes empty) when the others arrive and you are able to absorb it's aspect - take control of it and use it to lash out at the dark demon things around you. SO when it's your turn to post, feel free to lift the vortex off of you and Maggie then smash some demon insects before/during the meet up with the others.

@Maggie - As soon as the others arrive you can scoop up the little pixies to take with you. They just need rest to recharge themselves - and maybe some food (they like to eat.) You can also guide everyone to the edge of the brook where you and Robert will see/know there is a way out of the dark realm. But it will take the Fairy Godmother's arcane energies to unlock it. *You know all of this intuitively from the mental bond you have with the little Pixies and from the knowledge of the Mistlands passed onto you from Cern.